I often find myself in bouts of frustration with what the church as a whole has become in this day and age. In fact, I would go so far as to say I am frustrated with how the church no longer seems to follow the example of the forerunners of faith, or barely does so.
If we are being completely honest with ourselves having faith in today's society, seeing acts of faith in God in today's society are almost a rarity, when in fact they should be anything but.
The forerunners of faith — the apostles, Moses, David, modern day examples such as Smith Wigglesworth and Billy Graham — all led the way and paved a life filled with astounding faith. And although at times their faith was sure to have wavered in one way or another, we need to learn from the example of our forerunners of faith.
Mustard Seed
In the new testament Jesus spends quite a significant portion of time teaching on faith, and often he referred to 'faith the size of a mustard seed'. Now if you have ever seen a picture of a mustard seed, you would know it is much smaller than a five-cent piece, yet the sheer significance of having faith the size of such a thing could move mountains.
Now don't get the wrong idea I am not in any way trying to imply that no one has faith, I am more saying what have we placed it in and why do we no longer use it the way our forerunners did? There are those who are set on having such a grand faith, one that placed correctly in God could do the impossible, but Jesus only ever mentioned faith the size of a mustard seed.
The point being made is that we all only need faith the size of a mustard seed, and if placed correctly in Christ it can move mountains physical or spiritual.
A useless generation
Two of the greatest forerunners that come to mind are Moses and Joshua. Both men were tasked with leading the Jewish nation during the exodus and in conquering the land of Canaan. When it came time to enter the promised land Moses dispatched several spies and of the 12 only 2 said it was possible to take the land. As a result, an entire generation had to die out, in order for a generation with faith to rise up and take the promises of God.
An entire generation had to cease, and was essentially useless because they lacked faith, they had no desire to place faith the size of mustard seed in God.
This is something we as the modern church can learn from, we can realise the importance of having faith and placing it in God, instead of placing it in things like leaders and so called holy men. I personally don't want to see an entire generation die out because God is waiting for those with a small yet humble faith to rise up.
Forerunners
There is a great deal that we can learn from our forerunners, however one of the most significant is that we too need examples for the generations to come. It is our duty and more significantly our mandate to have faith not in man or leaders but in Christ alone. We cannot be idle, and it is a fact God is against those who are lukewarm.
We need to actively use our faith and allow it to be used by God in order to move the mountains facing the church in such a treacherous modern society. I honestly believe God is seeking the faithful in order to use them is ways that our forerunners were used, and I believe that we can't be yet another generation of just a handful who were willing to step up.
We can no longer be lukewarm, and we are desperately needed by a world, a society that is lacking those who have faith, and follow suit of the forerunners who have come before us.
This article is courtesy of Press Service International and originally appeared on Christian Today Australia.
